


Tree of Memories

by swiftgirl01



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Slice of Life, garden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 13:58:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14113851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftgirl01/pseuds/swiftgirl01
Summary: This is written for the prompts Silce of Life and Garden for the bing#1 in LLYBB.Yuuri and Victor settle down in Hasetsu together after they retire to spend their life and love. This is in colab withAlli, which you can findHERE. It's been amazing working with you, thank you for being patient with me!!!





	Tree of Memories

Yuuri and Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov, power couple extraordinaire, legendary figure skaters, settled in a Japanese-style house near the Yu-topia onsen in the spring of the year Yuuri retired. They wanted to live quietly in the days following their retirement from figure skating. Of course, that didn’t mean that they would stop coaching or choreographing; they just needed a place for themselves, and Hasetsu was it.

 

One of the things that sold them on the house was the Japanese garden that came with it. They were told that the house dated back to the 1900s, and had belonged to an old couple who had raised a total of fifteen children, thirty-six grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren before passing away quietly in their sleep. Since most of the kids had moved away and had no interest in maintaining such a huge property, the eldest son honored the old couple’s wish to sell the house to someone who would preserve its history rather than destroy it.

 

Victor and Yuuri had no intention of destroying beauty nor change too much of its dignity- not when they had just found the house of their dreams. They agreed to plant several trees of memories and settled on a Japanese Cherry Blossom tree to cherish every moment knowing how fleeting life can be, a Japanese Maple tree to signify a peaceful retreat and bless their house, and a Wisteria tree as a symbol of romance and enduring love. They planted and made the promise to cherish every single moment of their lives with love, honor, and friendship.

 

Thus began the blissful married life of Yuuri and Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov.

*****

On a bright spring morning, after several years of knowing and being together with Yuuri, Victor stood observing the fallen branches of the Sakura tree with an apprehensive look. His heart was in pieces just like the fallen branches, with loneliness, sadness, and anger.

 

Victor loved his husband- a lot. There were days he felt like he couldn’t spend even one moment away from him, but Gods, sometimes the man drove him crazy. Yuuri left his clothes scattered about and he never followed Victor’s neat pattern of lining it up. There were times when Yuuri was ‘in the zone,’ he was deaf and blind that anything, even a war couldn’t distract him. Every time one of his favorite games were released, it was always “just this boss,” “just this level,” “just this round,” but it was never just that boss, that level, or that round, and who this boss was Victor had no clue.

 

Yuuri often would lay in bed with his phone or laptop for hours together without going to sleep. Sometimes, he would wake up only to find that Yuuri had  _ never _ gone to sleep.  _ It was all MADDENING, so FRUSTRATING!  _ At times like these, he only had a pillow to hug.  _ He didn’t need a pillow! He needed his husband _ !!! He couldn't even count on the dogs for comfort, because they all adored Yuuri first and Victor second, as Victor did himself. Besides, Yuuri was an excellent dog dad.

  
  


Yet Yuuri refused to give him the small pleasure of going to sleep at the same time. Victor got it, Yuuri needed to have his own time, Yuuri needed his own space, his own set of things... but it affected his cuddle time. 

 

It started as a small thing; a tiny thing. A misplaced key, forgotten dishes, forgotten detergent. However, the final straw for Victor was when he opened the fridge and realized Yuuri took the strawberries he had saved for strawberry shortcake. He was sure his husband  _ snacked on them  _ while he played his new game. VICTOR WAS LIVID. And to makes matters worse, a random lightning bolt struck the Japanese Cherry Blossom tree, cracking several of its branches.

  
  


Victor saw the cracked branches and all of his hemmed-in feelings and frustrations gushed out in a flood of tears. With his mind racing against time and he was forced to confront his doubts. The fact that the Japanese Cherry Blossom tree was struck felt like some kind of ominous sign; a sign that their relationship was fleeting and not meant to last! Victor was scared more than ever that his nitpickiness was going to chase away Yuuri.

 

Victor promised himself to be more understanding of Yuuri’s needs and messes. So what if Yuuri had eaten all the strawberries? He would just buy new ones. He would tell Yuuri to treat clothes with more respect. And as for the dogs... there wasn’t really anything he could do, as he understood their feelings. Victor decided he would talk to Yuuri and make him understand that all he wanted was his husband’s time and to be held his strong arms whilst he slept.

 

Victor reached his resolve and arrived in the kitchen only to be attacked by the divine smell of strawberries and whipped cream. Victor watched, dumbfounded. He was very sure he had left Yuuri sleeping in the bed, yet here he was puttering around in the kitchen, cooking things as if nothing were wrong. As if he hadn’t stolen Victor’s strawberries.

 

“Yuuri, what are you doing?” asked a bewildered Victor.

 

Yuuri turned and smiled. “Victor, come here.”

 

Yuuri waited till Victor walked to him. He held his hands, went up on his toes and placed a tender kiss on his forehead. “I made you strawberry shortcake. Sorry I took your strawberries, I wanted to surprise you, love.” 

  
  
  


Victor just stared with widened eyes.  _ How did Yuuri manage to surprise him around every corner, he wondered (not for the first time). _ He loved Yuuri, now more so than ever before. He thought of the broken branches and all the negative thought and burst out in tears. The broken branches weren’t Yuuri, they were him. Yuuri looked taken aback, Victor had to stop, he knew he had to stop, but the more he remembered, the harder he cried.

 

Yuuri had made his favorite tea, his favorite dessert—for breakfast. It was then he remembered that Yuuri never left any dishes lying around in the sink, he often made Victor treats. He remembered he was the one who had changed the order of the clothes in the closet and forgot to tell Yuuri. He remembered Yuuri’s excitement for the game, he thought of many things he had ignored to be in his own head.

 

He wanted to say he was sorry for living in his head, for letting negativity stem in his brain. Victor wanted to apologize, but all that came out was “Tree… branch… sorry… mistake …love,” and continued the torrent of tears.

 

Victor could hardly make out the horrified expression on Yuuri’s face, eyes blurry with tears. Yuuri reached out and held him to his chest. Victor felt Yuuri gently rubbing his back, and buried his face in Yuuri’s neck and shed all the remaining tears.

 

Eventually, as he settled down, they did talk, and came to an agreement. Yuuri would never let him go to bed alone and would be there when Victor fell asleep and woke up. They also decided to have date nights with just each other. Yuuri made Victor promise that he would tell Yuuri anything that bothered him, even something as small as a fly or a cockroach. Yuuri also told Victor that he would be willing to do anything Victor’s way or whatever bought Victor comfort.

  
  


But they both agreed on how they were the important thing that made a home. Yuuri assured Victor his love would not fall like the branches; his love was like the sturdy stump on which the branches grew. When one fell, another grew in its place and no matter what, it would withstand, just like they would withstand all the storms.

 

Victor learnt that marriages weathered a few showers, a few storms. No relationship was perfect; they still got angry, they still made mistakes, but they also talked, they laughed, they made love, and more—they understood each other, that was their strength and that was what love was.

*****

 

After a few years of downtime, of enjoying each other’s company, of late night candle light dinners, slow walks on long balmy days, countless soaks, and Katsudon in the onsen, they went back to work. It wasn’t an easy process as they were required in multiple locations often. Even though they were a coach--choreographer team, sometimes they seldom saw each other.

 

A figure skater’s career stretched a short amount of time and it was grueling. Victor regretted (only a little bit) at how much he made Yakov shed his hair. Their initial success was with a small Japanese boy who went on to win every single competition he was assigned to that season under their tutelage with Yuuri’s choreography. And suddenly, the world wanted a piece of Katsuki-Nikiforov again. It was something they were used to being in the spotlight for so long.

 

The nights they weren’t together were too much for Victor.  He missed Yuuri’s warmth, Yuuri’s presence. The older they became, the more they seemed to need each other. Their love making was intense as ever and Victor felt Yuuri knew his body inside out, more so than he knew himself.

 

He also knew that it was impossible to stay together all the time; their skaters were from all over the world, true, they all trained in Hasetsu, but their level of expertise and the competitions they attended were completely different. So, separating for periods of times was inevitable.

 

Every time he thought it wouldn’t affect him when Yuuri left on his trips, he came back and affected him more. Most of the times Yuuri had to take his trips alone, he would sit under their trees with their dogs and read. It made him feel closer to Yuuri.

 

Once Yuuri came back from his trip, Victor would tell him he loved him and hug him. They would share stories; some funny, some of everything, some of their skaters and then they would work together to build young blood, to set fire to their passion. That’s what coaches do, what partners do. That’s what husbands do, so he would kiss his husband and hold him till the next time they had separate for their trips, such was the way of life.

*****

  
  
  


The years flew by like the wind blew the leaves, in the blink of an eye all the years had passed. Now, they were just old men living a slow life. Victor liked to think he lived a full one. He also didn’t want to think about what would have happened or how empty his life would have been had he not met Yuuri.

 

Their garden was in full bloom in the middle of April. Over the years, they added a lot more trees, especially Wisteria and Sakura, which covered their garden in beautiful purple and pink carpet when the flowers were in season.

 

They would have long lazy picnics in their garden, just like they were now, and held Hanami once a year which Yurio or their other friends never missed. Their life was filled with laughter and love. Sometimes, they would just sit with their dogs, read, and spend their time in leisure.

 

Victor watched Yuuri grow older, watched the black turn into a distinguished grey. Though Victor had been worried about balding, he didn’t lose as much hair, but he didn’t care if he lost it; he knew Yuuri would still love him. Yuuri would love him even if he was old and moldy.

 

As he felt Yuuri’s head rest on his shoulder and his dog’s head on his lap, he knew he couldn’t have asked for a better life. Live and love was here in this garden, in this home he made with Yuuri. They said trees live and store the memories of the past. As he dropped a kiss in Yuuri’s hair, he thought of their tree of memories and they will be remembered, their love will be remembered even long after they were gone like the fleeting Sakura blossoms.

*****

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)
> 
> Come and talk to me at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/swiftgirl10)/ [Tumblr](https://swiftgirl01.tumblr.com/)


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